JUDGE: BP'S RECKLESS CONDUCT CAUSED GULF OIL SPILL

Sep 4, 2014

BY: Michael Kunzelmann & Janet Mcconnaughey, Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- BP bears the majority of responsibility among the
companies involved in the nation's worst offshore oil spill, a federal
judge ruled Thursday, citing the energy giant's reckless conduct in
a ruling that exposes the company to billions of dollars in penalties.

BP PLC already has agreed to pay billions of dollars in criminal fines
and compensation to people and businesses affected by the disaster. But
U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier's ruling could nearly quadruple what
the London-based company has to pay in civil fines for polluting the Gulf
of Mexico during the 2010 spill.

Barbier presided over a trial in 2013 to apportion blame for the spill
that spewed oil for 87 days in 2010. Eleven men died after the well blew.

In his 153-page ruling, Barbier said BP made "profit-driven decisions"
during the drilling of the well that led to the deadly blowout.

"These instances of negligence, taken together, evince an extreme
deviation from the standard of care and a conscious disregard of known
risks," he wrote.

BP said in a news release that it would appeal the ruling, saying the
company "believes that an impartial view of the record does not support
the erroneous conclusion reached by the District Court."

The ruling means BP could face as much as $17.6 billion in civil fines
under the Clean Water Act, said David Uhlmann, a University of Michigan
law professor and former chief of the Justice Department's environmental
crimes section.

"It also repudiates BP's claims that it was merely negligent
and will further damage BP's already badly damaged reputation,"
Uhlmann wrote in an email.

The judge was assigned to oversee most of the federal litigation spawned
by BP's spill. Last year, he presided over two phases of a trial for
claims against BP and its contractors brought by the federal government,
the five Gulf states and private lawyers representing businesses and residents.

Barbier heard eight weeks of testimony without a jury for the trial's
first phase, which was designed to identity the causes of the blowout
of BP's Macondo well and assign percentages of fault to the companies
involved in the drilling project.

The judge heard three weeks of testimony for the second phase, which focused
on dueling estimates of how much oil spilled into the Gulf and examined
BP's efforts to seal the well.

Millions of gallons of crude gushed into the Gulf after the well blew
and triggered an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, killing
wildlife, staining beaches and polluting marshes. BP ultimately sealed
its well after several techniques failed to stop the gusher.

BP says it has spent more than $24 billion in spill-related expenses,
including cleanup costs and payments to businesses and residents who claim
the spill cost them money. The company also has estimated that it will
pay a total of $42 billion to fully resolve its spill-related liability.

BP pleaded guilty in January 2013 to manslaughter charges for the rig
workers' deaths. BP also agreed to pay a record $4 billion in penalties
as part of its deal with the Justice Department, but the plea agreement
didn't resolve the federal government's civil claims against BP.

Under the Clean Water Act, a polluter can be forced to pay a maximum of
either $1,100 or $4,300 per barrel of spilled oil. The higher limit applies
if the company is found grossly negligent — as BP was in Barbier's
ruling. But penalties can be assessed at amounts lower than those caps.

Government experts estimated that 4.2 million barrels, or 176 million
gallons, spilled into the Gulf. BP urged Barbier to use an estimate of
2.45 million barrels, or nearly 103 million gallons, in calculating any
Clean Water Act penalties. Both sides agreed that 810,000 barrels, or
34 million gallons, of oil escaped the well but were captured before it
could pollute the Gulf.

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